Release Notes
NetBackup 7.6 First Availability
The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Documentation version: 7.6 First Availability PN: 21317386
Legal Notice
Copyright © 2013 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.
Symantec, the Symantec Logo, the Checkmark Logo and NetBackup are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
The product described in this document is distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying, distribution, and decompilation/reverse engineering. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of Symantec Corporation and its licensors, if any.
THE DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. SYMANTEC CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
Symantec Corporation 350 Ellis Street
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://www.symantec.com
Symantec Technical Support maintains support centers globally. Technical Support’s primary role is to respond to specific queries about product features and functionality. The Technical Support group also creates content for our online Knowledge Base. The Technical Support group works collaboratively with the other functional areas within Symantec to answer your questions in a timely fashion. For example, the Technical Support group works with Product Engineering and Symantec Security Response to provide alerting services and virus definition updates.
Symantec’s support offerings include the following:
■ A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the right amount of service for any size organization
■ Telephone and/or Web-based support that provides rapid response and up-to-the-minute information
■ Upgrade assurance that delivers software upgrades
■ Global support purchased on a regional business hours or 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis
■ Premium service offerings that include Account Management Services
For information about Symantec’s support offerings, you can visit our website at the following URL:
www.symantec.com/business/support/
All support services will be delivered in accordance with your support agreement and the then-current enterprise technical support policy.
About Symantec Operations Readiness Tools
Symantec Operations Readiness Tools (SORT) is a set of web-based tools that supports Symantec enterprise products. For NetBackup, SORT provides the ability to collect, analyze, and report on host configurations across UNIX/Linux or Windows environments. This data helps to assess whether your systems are ready for an initial NetBackup installation or for an upgrade from your current version. To access SORT, go to the following webpage:
https://sort.symantec.com/netbackup
Once you get to the SORT page, more information is available as follows:
■ Installation and Upgrade Checklist
■ Custom Reports
Use this tool to get recommendations for your system and Symantec enterprise products, tips for risk assessment, and product license tracking.
■ NetBackup Future Platform and Feature Plans
Use this tool to get information about what items Symantec intends to replace with newer and improved functionality, and what items Symantec intends to discontinue without replacement. Some of these items include certain NetBackup features, functionality, 3rd-party product integration, Symantec product integration, applications, databases, and the OS platforms.
Contacting Technical Support
Customers with a current support agreement may access Technical Support information at the following URL:
www.symantec.com/business/support/
Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the system requirements that are listed in your product documentation. Also, you should be at the computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to replicate the problem.
When you contact Technical Support, please have the following information available:
■ Product release level
■ Hardware information
■ Available memory, disk space, and NIC information
■ Operating system ■ Version and patch level
■ Network topology
■ Router, gateway, and IP address information ■ Problem description:
■ Error messages and log files
support Web page at the following URL:
www.symantec.com/business/support/
Customer service
Customer service information is available at the following URL:
www.symantec.com/business/support/
Customer Service is available to assist with non-technical questions, such as the following types of issues:
■ Questions regarding product licensing or serialization
■ Product registration updates, such as address or name changes
■ General product information (features, language availability, local dealers)
■ Latest information about product updates and upgrades
■ Information about upgrade assurance and support contracts
■ Information about the Symantec Buying Programs
■ Advice about Symantec's technical support options
■ Nontechnical presales questions
■ Issues that are related to CD-ROMs, DVDs, or manuals
Support agreement resources
If you want to contact Symantec regarding an existing support agreement, please contact the support agreement administration team for your region as follows:
Asia-Pacific and Japan
Europe, Middle-East, and Africa
Technical Support
... 3Chapter 1
New features and enhancements
... 9About NetBackup 7.6 new features and enhancements ... 10
New platforms and proliferation ... 10
General new features and enhancements ... 10
Accelerator enhancements ... 12
Database and application agent support enhancements ... 12
Disaster recovery with BMR ... 14
Media Server Deduplication Pool enhancements ... 15
NetBackup OpsCenter enhancements ... 17
Storage Lifecycle Policy (SLP) enhancements ... 18
Auto Image Replication enhancements ... 19
NetBackup for Oracle enhancements ... 20
Replication Director enhancements ... 21
VSS Support in Replication Director ... 22
SAN support for NetApp in Replication Director ... 23
Replication Director support for VMware (NAS Datastores) ... 23
Exchange VM support for Replication Director (NAS datastores) ... 23
SQL Server VM support for Replication Director ... 24
Oracle support for physical server in Replication Director ... 24
Validation of SLP topology ... 24
NDMP wildcard support ... 25
Disambiguation of status code 156 ... 25
NetBackup Search enhancements ... 25
Virtualization enhancements ... 26
About new NetBackup commands and status codes ... 27
Chapter 2
Installation requirements and platform
compatibility
... 29About upgrade paths to the NetBackup 7.6 line of releases ... 29
About NetBackup installation requirements ... 30
Installation requirements for UNIX and Linux systems ... 31
NetBackup 7.6 binary sizes ... 35
About server and client platform compatibility ... 39
New and discontinued server and client operating system support for NetBackup 7.6 ... 39
Database agent compatibility in NetBackup 7.6 ... 41
Platform compatibility for NetBackup Cloud ... 42
Platform compatibility with the NetBackup Administration Consoles for UNIX ... 43
About NetBackup compatibility lists ... 43
About software release types ... 45
About compatibility with NetBackup 7.6 ... 46
Auto Image Replication support ... 48
NetBackup compatibility ... 48
About platform life cycles ... 50
About adding a platform ... 50
About removing a client platform ... 50
About NetBackup EEB listings ... 51
Chapter 3
Product dependencies
... 52Operating system patches and updates ... 52
Chapter 4
Operational notes
... 59About NetBackup 7.6 operational notes ... 60
NetBackup installation and startup notes ... 61
NetBackup cluster installation notes ... 65
NetBackup package, media, and rebranding changes ... 66
NetBackup LiveUpdate notes ... 68
General NetBackup 7.6 notes ... 69
NetBackup Accelerator notes ... 77
Auto Image Replication notes ... 78
NetBackup AdvancedDisk option ... 78
NetBackup audit trail limitations ... 79
Backup, Archive, and Restore operational notes ... 80
NetBackup Bare Metal Restore notes ... 80
Cloud storage notes ... 91
NetBackup database and application agent notes ... 92
NetBackup for Microsoft Exchange ... 92
NetBackup for Microsoft SharePoint ... 96
NetBackup for Active Directory ... 98
NetBackup for Oracle ... 98
MSDP notes ... 99
NetBackup 7.6 documentation supplemental content ... 103
Graphical interface notes ... 106
NetBackup Administration Console for Windows ... 106
NetBackup Java Administration Console for UNIX/Linux ... 107
NetBackup Java Windows Administration Console ... 108
Storage unit configuration ... 109
NetBackup internationalization and localization notes ... 110
NetBackup IPv6 notes ... 113
NetBackup for NDMP notes ... 115
NetBackup OpsCenter notes ... 115
Known issue in upgrading OpsCenter cluster setup to 7.6 ... 124
Replication Director notes ... 124
NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport notes ... 130
NetBackup Search notes ... 132
NetBackup SharedDisk support notes ... 133
NetBackup Snapshot Client notes ... 133
Resilient network operational notes ... 139
Virtualization notes ... 139
NetBackup for VMware notes ... 140
NetBackup for Hyper-V notes ... 149
Chapter 5
End-of-life notifications
... 150About future NetBackup end-of-life notifications ... 150
Chapter 6
Related documents
... 152About related NetBackup documents ... 152
About NetBackup release notes ... 153
About getting started guides ... 153
About installation guides ... 153
About administrator’s guides ... 153
About administration of options ... 154
About administration of database agents ... 155
About other documents ... 156
New features and
enhancements
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ About NetBackup 7.6 new features and enhancements
■ New platforms and proliferation
■ General new features and enhancements
■ Accelerator enhancements
■ Database and application agent support enhancements
■ Disaster recovery with BMR
■ Media Server Deduplication Pool enhancements
■ NetBackup OpsCenter enhancements
■ Storage Lifecycle Policy (SLP) enhancements ■ Auto Image Replication enhancements
■ NetBackup for Oracle enhancements
■ Replication Director enhancements
■ NetBackup Search enhancements ■ Virtualization enhancements
■ About new NetBackup commands and status codes
1
About NetBackup 7.6 new features and enhancements
This release of NetBackup emphasizes availability and performance to protect mission-critical data and applications in physical and virtualized environments. The following sections in this chapter describe several new features and enhancements that are found in NetBackup and its components.
New platforms and proliferation
NetBackup 7.6 contains support for several new software and hardware platforms. Some of this information can be found in various sections of the NetBackup 7.6
Release Notes. However, for the most up-to-date compatibility information, see the
various compatibility lists on the Symantec Support website:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH59978
See“About server and client platform compatibility”on page 39. See“Disaster recovery with BMR”on page 14.
General new features and enhancements
This section describes some of the new general enhancements that can be found in this release of NetBackup.
■ In NetBackup 7.6, the Sybase SQL Anywhere database (NetBackup catalog) has been upgraded to version 12.0.1. This version prioritizes higher performance, but compared to earlier NetBackup releases, this version can consume higher CPU.
Note:Support for remote-EMM and shared-EMM server configurations is withdrawn in NetBackup 7.6. In a remote- or shared-EMM server configuration, the NetBackup relational database (NBDB), the Enterprise Media Manager (EMM), and the Resource Broker (RB) are moved to a server that is not the master server. This configuration is not supported in NetBackup 7.6.
Customers who currently use this configuration should contact Symantec Support who will engage Symantec Engineering to review the options to disengage this configuration from an environment.
> Host Properties and choose the Fail option. Alternatively, select the Fail option in the preferences section of the SAN Client page of the Device Configuration Wizard.
Please note that the default setting is to failover to LAN if Fibre Transport is not available.
■ The new NetBackup status code 2111 has been added to this release with the following description:
All storage units are configured with On Demand Only and are not eligible for jobs requesting ANY storage unit.
This code applies to the situation which previously led to a general status code 213 “No storage units available for use.” The new status code provides more granular troubleshooting.
■ Support for 64-bit NDMP devices:
Support has been added for NDMP dump type backups of devices with 64-bit inode numbers.
■ NetBackup utility enhancements:
This release of NetBackup includes improvements to theNBCC,NBCCA,NBCCR,
andnbsuutilities. The improvements toNBCC,NBCCA, andNBCCRinclude many
enhancements and high-priority fixes that improve the end-user experience. These fixes assist the NetBackup Support organization to identify NetBackup catalog and database consistency issues. Enhancements tonbsu1.7 include
improvements to NetBackup diagnostic data collection and the diagnosis of issues with NetBackup.
■ Hot fix / EEB preinstall checker
Before an upgrade, the NetBackup server installer checks that the release to be installed contains a fix corresponding to every EEB that is already installed. For any such fix that is not included in the release, the user is given detailed information about the fix. The user is then given the opportunity to cancel the installation.
■ OpenStorage client direct restores:
Performance has been improved and network overhead has been decreased for NetBackup client restores from any NetBackup deduplication storage.
■ Catalog enhancements
This feature offers the following improvements:
■ Catalog backup performance
■ Catalog compression enhancements
NetBackup now has a built-in compression method to compress the image catalog, which provides better compression ratios than earlier methods. Catalog files that are compressed under earlier methods are transparently migrated to the newer method when they are accessed as part of NetBackup operations.
■ Logging Assistant Feature:
This feature allows the user to enable, collect, upload, and disable the NetBackup debug logging that Symantec Support typically requires to troubleshoot support cases.
Accelerator enhancements
This section describes some of the new features and enhancements that have been added to NetBackup Accelerator in this release of NetBackup.
■ Accelerator for VMware:
This feature offers fast VMware data protection with full support for granular restore technology with much lower resource consumption than an incremental backup. It also offers Accelerated application data protection in virtualized environments.
■ The following support has been added for Accelerator in NetBackup 7.6:
■ Accelerator is fully supported with the ReFS file system.
■ Accelerator is fully supported with and without NTFS deduplication enabled.
■ SQL server support for VMware environments
■ SharePoint support for VMware environments ■ Exchange support for VMware environments
Database and application agent support
enhancements
This section describes some of the new database agent and application support enhancements that can be found in this release of NetBackup.
The following database and application support has been added in this release:
■ DB2 support for zLinux
■ A new lookup table has been added to the NetBackup relational database for Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2 database backups.
The lookup table provides a mapping between the NetBackup backup identifier and the application’s backup identifier. When the application searches for the backup to perform crosschecks or restores, it uses the application’s backup identifier. The application's identifier is now efficiently mapped to the NetBackup backup identifier by the lookup table resulting in faster crosschecks and restores.
About NetBackup for Microsoft Exchange
The following support has been added to the NetBackup Exchange Agent:
■ Exchange 2013 support (database only). Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) and off-host backups are not supported with this release.
■ Exchange 2010 SP3 support on Windows 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012.
■ The Exchange client host properties now includes a property called Exchange credentials. Provide the credentials for a unique Exchange mailbox that has sufficient roles or group memberships to perform backups and restores. This account must also have the right to “Replace a process level token”.
■ In this release, for NetBackup operations with Exchange 2010 or 2013 you can
now use a minimal mailbox account that has local administrator rights rather than Exchange administrator rights. See the NetBackup for Exchange
Administrator’s Guide for details.
About NetBackup for Microsoft SharePoint
The following support has been added to the NetBackup SharePoint Agent:
■ NetBackup 7.6 backs up SharePoint 2010 service application components that are included with the Office Web Applications 2010 add-on. However, NetBackup does not currently support restores of these components. These Shared Services include the following:
■ Microsoft SharePoint Resources:\Shared Services\Shared Services
Applications\Power Point Service Application
■ Microsoft SharePoint Resources:\Shared Services\Shared Services Applications\Word Viewing Service
■ Microsoft SharePoint Resources:\Shared Services\Shared Services
Applications\Excel Calculation Service
■ SharePoint 2013 support (database only). Please note, Granular Recovery
■ Redirection of a SharePoint Content database to another SQL instance is supported. Redirecting a content database to another SQL instance lets you take advantage of data recovery from an unattached content database.
■ NetBackup Accelerator for VMware support has been added for SharePoint.
■ Claims-based authentication (CBA) is now supported for Web application in SharePoint 2010 and later. The following providers are supported:
■ Windows Authentication (LDAP) ■ Facebook
■ Live Id
■ Forms-based authentication (FBA) using SQL Server
■ Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0
Disaster recovery with BMR
This section describes some of the new Bare Metal Restore (BMR) features and enhancements that can be found in this release of NetBackup.
BMR now supports the following platforms and proliferations in NetBackup 7.6:
■ BMR Server on Windows Server 2012
■ BMR Client/Boot Server for Oracle Solaris 11 SPARC and x86-64.
■ BMR Client/Boot Server for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 through update 4, except update 2.
■ BMR Client/Boot Server for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 through update 9.
■ BMR Client/Boot Server for Oracle Linux 6 through update 4.
■ BMR Client/Boot Server for Oracle Linux 5 through update 8, except update 5 and update 6.
■ BMR direct virtual machine creation from client backup:
BMR can create a client VMware-based virtual machine from its backup image by running a wizard or executing a single command from the command line. This feature is a very easy and a very fast disaster recovery option that you can use to perform disaster recovery compliance testing as well. This feature helps in lowering the operational expenditure (OpEx) by leveraging a virtual
environment for client recovery.
conversion wizard is provided through the NetBackup Administration Console to guide you through the VM creation process. In addition, a command-line interface process is also available to start VM creation. VM creation can be done from full, incremental, or synthetic backups.
Media Server Deduplication Pool enhancements
For the 7.6 release, new Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP) features focus on better performance and increased reliability. Collectively, the improvements provide the following benefits:
■ Higher job success rate under various usage scenarios, including heavy workloads.
■ Robust deduplication storage with predictable behaviors for various operations such as backup, restore, replication, and housekeeping.
■ Less downtime and better system availability.
For more information about these features and enhancements, see the NetBackup
Media Server Deduplication Pool Guide for the 7.6 release.
The following items describe the new features and improvements:
■ The history framework now keeps track of the lifecycle of various data objects such as path objects, data objects, segment objects, tasks, and database entries. They can be viewed in the Activity Monitor. Previously, the framework tracked only transaction queue processing. This change gives Symantec Support and Development much more information about data flow in MSDP, which can help to better diagnose issues on customer sites.
■ Log messages have been enhanced to make error information more informative. ■ Reduced storage server memory requirements. Most important, 64 TBs of
storage no longer require 64 GBs of host memory.
■ The new NetBackup Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent improves backup performance for both client-side deduplication and media server deduplication.
■ New inline processing during data storage reduces transactions in the MSDP queue, which results in improved reliability and less queue processing.
■ Improved single CPU core performance for architectures other than Intel.
■ Restore operations no longer require a fingerprint index.
■ The engine loads only a small percentage of fingerprints into the fingerprint index cache. Previously, all fingerprints were loaded.
You can configure the cache loading behavior.
■ The engine no longer loads the transaction queue when it starts.
NetBackup now processes backup transactions during the backup, so they do not have to be written to the transaction queue.
■ Replaced thePostgresSQLdatabase application by a reference database (refDB) for the deduplication fingerprint information. The following are some of the benefits that the new reference database provides:
■ Removes the single-point-of-failure inherent in a central reference management table.
■ Improves the performance of MSDP operations.
■ Increases the scalability of MSDP operations. More backup images can be processed and more jobs can run concurrently.
■ Limits any database corruption: Any corruption is limited to a small subset
of the database. Database corruption does not affect backups, restores, or house keeping processes. Database corruption does not prevent the NetBackup Deduplication Engine (spoold) from starting.
■ Self-healing database: NetBackup detects corruption and reconstructs the affected parts of the database at the next backup.
■ NetBackup now can restore directly to a client that deduplicates its own data.
■ Remote WAN backup resiliency:
This feature is intended to make backups successful on the networks that reset idle socket connections within a given period of time. This feature, together with the NetBackup 7.5 WAN resiliency feature, improves job success rate for operations over WAN links with less reliable network connectivity. The success rate is also improved for operations over WAN links with intermediate firewalls and the appliances that aggressively reset idle socket connections.
Some of the improvements that have been made to MSDP may become noticeable directly after an upgrade to NetBackup 7.6. For example, due to improvements in how NetBackup uses MSDP storage, after an upgrade you may see an increase in available storage space. The Used Capacity of a disk pool may decrease and the Available Space may increase.
NetBackup OpsCenter enhancements
This section describes some of the new features and enhancements that have been added to NetBackup OpsCenter in this release.
NetBackup OpsCenter 7.6 now supports the following platforms and proliferations:
■ OpsCenter Server and OpsCenter Managed Server support on Windows Server 2012
■ OpsCenter Server and OpsCenter Managed Server support on Oracle Linux 5/6.
■ Enhanced NetBackup and deduplication appliance awareness for OpsCenter
■ Multiple deduplication appliances and NetBackup appliances are now centrally monitored.
■ Deduplication and NetBackup appliances now both send hardware failure alerts.
■ Deduplication reporting capabilities have been improved with these newly added reports that provide additional value.
■ Publishing OpsCenter database schema
OpsCenter now provides access to detailed information about the OpsCenter database schema. This information can be helpful before any SQL query is run to generate reports. The reports can be created directly within OpsCenter or from the third party reporting tools with external ODBC access to the OpsCenter database.
The OpsCenter database schema is available as a.pdffile directly within the OpsCenter console.
■ Integrate external Active Directory and LDAP group support into OpsCenter's Role Based Access:
OpsCenter can now be configured to integrate directly with an Active Directory (AD) or an LDAP directory server. This configuration provides both external Domain-based user-level access and now AD and LDAP Group-level access to the Role Based Access in OpsCenter. The user can easily configure external Groups in the Active Directory or the LDAP directory. The external Groups can then be mapped directly into OpsCenter to configure corresponding access to OpsCenter Views and Groups, down to an individual client level.
■ A new OpsCenter Getting Started Wizard:
configure Views and Groups, and their Role-Based Access security to control access to specific areas of the NetBackup infrastructure.
Storage Lifecycle Policy (SLP) enhancements
Various SLP enhancements have been made that offer several improvements in the user experience when SLPs are used, with or without Replication Director. You can find more information about the SLP enhancements that are specific to Replication Director in the following section:
See“Replication Director enhancements”on page 21.
SLP Windows
This feature enables you to specify in an SLP the window during which duplication, index, import, or replication jobs are supposed to run. Before this release, NetBackup processed those jobs as soon as the backups completed. This setup caused some duplication, import, or replication jobs to compete with backups for resources, which caused some backups to slip over the backup window. Now you can define a backup window that runs first, followed by a window for duplication, indexing, replication, or import jobs to be processed. For example, the user can define a backup window that runs from 6:00 P.M. to 4:00 A.M. the next day and duplication, indexing, replication, or import jobs to be processed from 4:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. In addition, this feature offers the following improvements:
■ It reduces the time that is required to initiate the jobs that storage lifecycle policies control.
■ Advanced window close options allow control over how the duplication window behaves with respect to the operation.
■ You can configure the deactivation of SLP secondary operations with an associated reactivation time.
■ You can choose to defer duplication processing until the source image copy is about to expire.
Suspend and resume for classic duplication jobs
SLP parameters in Host Properties
SLP parameter values are now stored in a new configuration file. Parameters are now defined and persisted using thenbsetconfigornbgetconfigcommand line interfaces, or in the NetBackup Administration Console under SLP Host Properties. All parameter values that were previously stored in the LIFECYCLE_PARAMETERS file are automatically migrated to the new configuration file after the upgrade to NetBackup 7.6.
Duplication job progress in Activity Monitor
This feature implements a progress bar for various duplication jobs often executed from an SLP. The progress bar works for all types of duplication (Classic/Opt Dupe/NDMP), but not replication. The progress bar has always been visible in the Activity Monitor, but it went from 0 directly to 100 when the duplication job was completed. Now the bar shows continuous progress based on the data that is duplicated. The Current kilobytes written field is also updated to show percent completion.
Auto Image Replication enhancements
Targeted Auto Image Replication provides clear visibility into the target domain when you configure the source domain.
The following improvements are now available to you when you configure an SLP to use Targeted Auto Image Replication:
■ Target a specific master server by name
■ Target a specific SLP in that master server for import
■ Validation that NetBackup has confirmed that the chosen replication topology works and provides the expected behavior
The new data classificationAnymay be used by Import SLP in the target domain. This data classification is capable of importing any data classification and preserving the source domain’s data classification in the target domain.
By using Targeted Auto Image Replication functionality, you no longer need a matching SLP name or a matching data classification across all participating domains. In addition, when the source SLP is configured, its storage configuration is validated against the target domains for compatibility, which simplifies the configuration process.
Targeted Auto Image Replication provides the following benefits to users with one-to-many and many-to-many replication topologies:
■ Each target that is chosen is allowed to use a different retention to satisfy different SLAs for different business needs (i.e. short to medium retention off-site “hot standby” and long-term DR, plus tes/dev domain, etc.)
■ Allows unnecessary network traffic to be eliminated without the requirement of additional disk storage in the source domain
By using Targeted Auto Image Replication, you are given a way to add new target devices as the old devices are “aged” out of service. An example situation is when you replace a full target device with a newer generation of hardware with much higher capacity. The Targeted SLP lets you have both targets configured at the same time at the storage layer to drain “in-flight” replications and to start using the new device in parallel. This feature eliminates any interruption in service for routine maintenance scenarios.
Targeted Auto Image Replication now provides a notification capability from the target master server to its source master server in the event that the target master is unable to import an image. The existing import errors that are posted to the master server’s Problems Report are now duplicated to the source master server’s Problems Report. This additional notification provides continuous feedback to the source domain of any risk of failure to import, as well as any device configuration changes which may have broken the replication configuration
NetBackup for Oracle enhancements
Various Oracle enhancements have been made that offer several improvements in the user experience, with or without Replication Director.
You can find more information about the Oracle enhancements that are specific to Replication Director in the following sections:
See“Replication Director enhancements”on page 21.
See“Oracle support for physical server in Replication Director”on page 24.
Oracle Intelligent Policy
To address these issues, the following improvements have been implemented by Oracle Intelligent Policy:
■ You can create a single policy to protect multiple Oracle instances that are spread over multiple clients.
■ A new discovery service discovers Oracle instances throughout the NetBackup environment. The service polls the clients every four hours and sends the discovered instances to an instance repository available to you on the NetBackup Administration Console. You can also use thenboraadmcommand to manage
the instances.
■ The need for Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) scripts has been removed because the scripts are now automatically generated at run-time.
■ The Job Details in the Activity Monitor lets you view the backup summary, database state, RMAN input, and RMAN output for the Oracle Intelligent Policy.
■ Enhanced error codes enable faster identification, troubleshooting, and correction of problems. You can easily restart a failed job.
■ Oracle policy schedules have been improved with the elimination of the need for an application backup schedule.
■ You can manually back up any number of instances or all the instances.
■ Oracle Intelligent Policy automatically selects parameter settings at run-time that enable optimal deduplication.
■ You can create a new archived log schedule that backs up the archived redo
logs in intervals of minutes.
■ The database administrator can control all instance and instance group credentials, providing improved security throughout the system.
For more detailed information about NetBackup for Oracle, see the NetBackup for
Oracle Administrator's Guide.
Replication Director enhancements
This section describes some of the new features and enhancements that have been added to Replication Director in this release of NetBackup.
In NetBackup 7.6, Replication Director adds support for SAN-connected storage and additional customer workloads that include the following:
■ File services data on NetApp (iSCSI and FC) block-connected arrays ■ VMware file and application data on NAS datastores
■ Physical (non-virtualized) Oracle data on NFS storage
New Replication Director functionalities
■ Policy configuration for Replication Director is easier with the new Use Replication Director option. Enable Use Replication Director on the policy Attributes tab to automatically select other options that Replication Director requires. This option is available for the following policy types: MS- Windows, Standard, Oracle, NDMP, and VMware.
■ Storage server configuration for Replication Director is easier in the Storage
Server Configuration Wizard. The available OpenStorage Replication Director partners are now available from a drop-down menu when you select the storage server type.
■ SLP Windows: Ability to control when SLP operations are allowed
■ More flexible NDMP backup selections: ALL_FILESYSTEM directive and wildcards
■ Redesigned the Oracle backup policies to improve ease of configuration including snapshot functionality
■ Policy validation logic to ensure what is configured runs at backup time
■ Disambiguation of error code 156
VSS Support in Replication Director
VSS Support in Replication Director introduces the ability to support block or SAN-connected devices (Fibre Channel and iSCSI) on the Windows OS platform. On a Windows platform, snapshots are created using Microsoft’s VSS framework. This feature implements functionality in NetBackup that enables you to do the following:
■ Create snapshots on primary arrays.
■ Replicate snapshots on remote arrays.
■ Protection for file system data on block arrays.
SAN support for NetApp in Replication Director
SAN support for NetApp in Replication Director introduces the ability to support block or SAN-connected devices (Fibre Channel and iSCSI) on the UNIX and Linux platforms. This feature implements functionality in NetBackup to:
■ Create snapshots on primary arrays.
■ Replicate snapshots on remote arrays. ■ Protection for file system data on block arrays.
■ Perform recovery from primary and replicated snapshots or backups. Recovery can be single file (browse with Backup, Archive, and Restore or search with OpsCenter) or all contents of a volume.
Replication Director support for VMware (NAS Datastores)
Replication Director support for VMware (NAS Datastores) provides the capability for NetBackup virtualization features to operate in a snapshot and replication environment. The primary capabilities provided by this feature are:
■ Create and replicate array-based snapshots on VMware NFS datastores containing one or more virtual machines.
■ Restore of a VMware Virtual Machine (VM) from its vmdk files that are in a
snapshot.
■ Restore of individual files from the VM vmdk files in a snapshot.
■ Backup of selected Virtual Machines from the snapshots at primary and remote location (from Replicated snapshots).
Exchange VM support for Replication Director (NAS datastores)
Exchange VM Support for Replication Director builds upon the NetBackup Replication Director for VM feature by adding support for Exchange. From a Replication Director-managed snapshot that was taken during an Exchange-aware backup of a VMware guest, NetBackup can do the following:
■ Restore an Exchange database.
■ Browse an Exchange database for mailbox items.
■ Restore mailbox items. Snapshots can include:
■ Local snapshots.
■ Remote snapshots (replicated to a remote server).
■ Replicas that are made from remote snapshots.
The following URL is to a website that provides additional information about Exchange in a virtualized environment.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj126252.aspx
SQL Server VM support for Replication Director
SQL Server VM Support for Replication Director builds upon the NetBackup Replication Director for VM feature by adding support for SQL Server. From a Replication Director-managed snapshot that was taken during an SQL-aware backup of a VMware guest, NetBackup can do the following:
■ Restore an SQL database. Snapshots can include:
■ Local snapshots.
■ Replicas that are made from local snapshots.
■ Remote snapshots (replicated to a remote server).
■ Replicas that are made from remote snapshots.
Oracle support for physical server in Replication Director
Oracle support for Physical Server in Replication Director enables customers with physical (non-virtualized) Oracle servers running on NFS-connected storage to leverage Replication Director. The feature implements functionality to:
■ Use application-consistent (quiesced) or crash-consistent (non-quiesced) snapshots.
■ Create snapshots, replicate snapshots, back up from primary or replicated copy.
■ Recover from any copy (snapshot or backup).
■ Deal properly with archive redo log truncation.
■ Full and granular recovery.
Validation of SLP topology
correct errors well before the associated policies are executed. In addition, knowing the topology up-front also helps the storage server to effectively allocate resources for the associated policy job.
NDMP wildcard support
The NDMP wildcard support feature enables you to specify the backup selection for an NDMP policy using a directive (ALL_FILESYSTEMS) or a path with regular
expression (/vol/vol?_archive_*). Both directives and regular expressions selection should work for streaming and non-streaming backup. It should also work for Replication Director. In this manner, defining what data an NDMP policy should protect is now much simpler. For example, you can configure all of the data within a given filer to be protected rather than specifying the path names to back up.
Disambiguation of status code 156
This feature introduces a new set of status codes that help identify the cause of Snapshot Client failures that were previously under status code 156. These status codes include numbers 4200-4222.
See the Symantec NetBackup Status Codes Reference Guide.
NetBackup Search enhancements
This section describes some of the new features and enhancements that have been added to the Search and Discovery feature in this release of NetBackup.
■ Standalone indexing server:
You are no longer required to install an indexing server on a NetBackup media server. You can now install an indexing server as a standalone entity on any computer regardless of whether it is running NetBackup.
If you install an indexing server on a computer that does not have the NetBackup client software installed, the installation wizard prompts you to install the NetBackup client software before you proceed with the indexing server installation. For more information about installing and upgrading an indexing server, see the NetBackup Search Administrator’s guide.
■ Holds Traceability report:
The Holds Traceability report is introduced in NetBackup Search 7.6 to help you identify the search results from which the hold was placed on a backup image. This downloadable report contains detailed information about the search results, search query, and backup image list that is associated with the hold.
Occasionally the need arises to preserve data longer than the normal lifecycle of a backup image. This feature provides a way for NetBackup administrators to hold and un-hold specific data.
■
■ This feature allows the Restore utility to restore data from all supported policy types (Windows, Standard, NDMP, FlashBackup, VMware, and Hyper-V) and UNIX platforms. The Restore utility has also received usability enhancements, which include standardized configuration, restore job throttling, and a reduction of input parameters.
Virtualization enhancements
This section describes some of the new virtualization features and enhancements that can be found in this release of NetBackup.
This release includes the following new features and enhancements for VMware:
■ Support for the VMware backup host and backup media server has been added for the following platforms:
■ SUSE 10 SP4 x64
■ SUSE 11 x64
■ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 x64
■ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 x64 ■ The Accelerator for virtual machine backup.
■ Symantec introduces the NetBackup plug-in for VMware vCenter. In the VMware vSphere Client interface, you can use the NetBackup plug-in to monitor the status of virtual machine backups and restore virtual machines.
■ NetBackup now supports vSphere 5.1. Support for VMware vCloud Director 5.1 has also been added, along with the ability to back up vCloud environments and restore vApps back into vCloud.
■ Replication Director for protecting virtual machines in a snapshot and replication environment (NAS datastores).
See“Replication Director support for VMware (NAS Datastores)”on page 23.
■ A new command,nbrestorevm, has been added to the command line interface for the recovery of virtual machines.
■ The job details log in the Activity Monitor has enhanced error reporting for several snapshot-related errors with status code 156 for VMware virtual machines. In each case, an additional message states the reason for the error.
■ A browse and search feature has been added t\o the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface. When you search for a virtual machine to restore, this feature makes it easier to locate the virtual machine in a large, multi-layered virtual environment.
The following enhancements have been made to Hyper-V in this release:
■ Support has been added for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012.
■ Command line interface support of thenbrestorevmcommand has been added
for Hyper-V.
About new NetBackup commands and status codes
This release of NetBackup contains new commands, utilities, and status codes. For a description of each of the following commands, refer to the NetBackup
Commands Reference Guide. For a list of the NetBackup status codes, refer to the NetBackup Status Code Reference Guide.
The following is a list of the new commands released in NetBackup 7.6:
■ bpplcatdrinfo
List, modify, or set disaster recovery policy.
■ nbgetconfig
This command is the client version ofbpgetconfig. It lets you view the local configuration on a client.
■ nboraadm
This command manages the Oracle instances that are used in Oracle backup policies.
■ nbrestorevm
This command restores VMware virtual machines.
■ nbsetconfig
This command is the client version ofbpsetconfig. It lets you edit the local configuration on a client.
■ nbseccmd
This command runs the NetBackup Security Configuration service utility. Used in all security-related operations, this command adds inter-domain trust across master servers.
Installation requirements
and platform compatibility
This chapter includes the following topics:
■ About upgrade paths to the NetBackup 7.6 line of releases
■ About NetBackup installation requirements ■ About server and client platform compatibility
■ About software release types
■ About compatibility with NetBackup 7.6
■ About platform life cycles
■ About NetBackup EEB listings
About upgrade paths to the NetBackup 7.6 line of
releases
Note:If you do not plan to upgrade your NetBackup environment to version 7.6 within the first calendar quarter of 2014, you can safely ignore this section.
Upgrades to NetBackup 7.6 are supported from any release since NetBackup 6.0. However, some of the functionality that was introduced in NetBackup 7.5.0.6 and later is not present in the NetBackup 7.6 GA release. The difference in functionality is limited to bug fixes and a small set of features. The following list describes the various upgrade paths that Symantec recommends:
2
■ If you are currently running NetBackup 7.5.0.5 or earlier, your upgrade path is to NetBackup 7.6 GA.
■ If you are currently running NetBackup 7.5.0.6 and you do not use Amazon S3 cloud storage buckets in regions other than US Standard, your upgrade path is to 7.6 GA.
■ If you are currently running NetBackup 7.5.0.6 with Amazon S3 cloud storage buckets in regions other than US Standard, your upgrade path is to a release in the NetBackup 7.6 maintenance line (triple-dot) available near the end of the first calendar quarter of 2014.
Upgrades from NetBackup 7.5.0.6
If your NetBackup environment relies on any of the following functionality that is found in version 7.5.0.6 and later, then your upgrade path is to a release in the NetBackup 7.6 maintenance line (triple-dot).
■ Amazon S3 cloud storage buckets in regions other than US Standard See“Cloud storage notes”on page 91.
About NetBackup installation requirements
This release of NetBackup may contain changes to the minimum system
requirements and procedures that are required for installation. These changes affect the minimum system requirements for both Windows and UNIX platforms. This section contains the installation requirements for both UNIX and Windows that are found in the NetBackup Getting Started Guide.
■ Check for available disk space before you upgrade to NetBackup 7.x
During an upgrade to NetBackup 7.x, it is necessary to have enough free disk space to accommodate three complete copies of the NetBackup database. That includes all transaction logs and database files in the data directory including BMR if it is configured and in use. This directory is typically/usr/openv/db/data
for UNIX-based operating systems and\Veritas\NetBackupDB\datafor Windows-based operating systems when you use default installation methods.
■ Symantec recommends that you have the master server services up and available during a media server upgrade.
■ All compressed files are compressed using gzip. The installation of these files requires that gunzip, and gzip, be installed on the computer before NetBackup is installed. For all UNIX platforms except HP-UX, the binaries are expected to be in/binor/usr/binand that directory is a part of the root user’sPATH
variable. These commands must be present to have successful UNIX installations.
Installation requirements for UNIX and Linux systems
Table 2-1describes the requirements to prepare your UNIX and Linux systems for NetBackup installation. Use this table as a checklist to address each item.
Table 2-1 NetBackup installation requirements for UNIX and Linux
Requirements Check
Operating system:
■ For a complete list of compatible UNIX and Linux operating systems, refer to the NetBackup 7.x Operating System Compatbility List at the following website:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/overview.jsp?pid=15143
In the section Common Topics, under Compatibility List, click NetBackup 7.x Operating System.
Memory:
■ Master servers in a production environment should have a minimum of 8 GB of memory each.
■ Media servers in a production environment should have a minimum of 4 GB of memory each.
■ Any client in a production environment should have a minimum of 512 MB of memory.
■ For reasonable performance of the NetBackup-Java interfaces, you need 512 MB of RAM. Of that space, 256 MB must be available to the interface program (jnbSA or jbpSA).
For additional information about memory requirements, refer to the NetBackup
Backup Planning and Performance Tuning Guide.
Table 2-1 NetBackup installation requirements for UNIX and Linux (continued)
Requirements Check
Disk space:
■ The exact amount of space that is required depends on the hardware platform. More information about this topic is available.
SeeTable 2-3on page 35.
■ NetBackup catalogs contain information about your backups that become larger as you use the product. The disk space that the catalogs require depends primarily on the following aspects of your backup configuration:
■ The number of files that are backed up.
■ The frequency of your backups.
■ The amount of time that you set to retain your backup data.
Note:The value for disk space is for initial installation only. The NetBackup catalog requires considerably more space once the master server is placed in a production environment. For additional information on sizing requirements for the NetBackup catalog, refer to the NetBackup Backup Planning and
Performance Tuning Guide.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5332
gzipandgunzipcommands:
■ Ensure that the gzip and the gunzip commands are installed on the local system. The directories where these commands are installed must be part of the root user’s path environment variable setting.
Clustered systems:
■ Ensure that each node in the NetBackup cluster can run the ssh command, the rsh command, or its equivalent (on HP-UX, the command is remsh). The root user must be able to perform a remote login to each node in the cluster without entering a password. This remote login is necessary for installation and configuration of the NetBackup server and any NetBackup agents and options. After installation and configuration are complete, it is no longer required.
■ You must install, configure, and start the cluster framework before you install NetBackup.
■ You must have defined a virtual name using DNS, NIS, or the /etc/hosts file. The IP address is defined at the same time. (The virtual name is a label for the IP address.)
More information about cluster requirements is available.
Symantec NetBackup Clustered Master Server Administrator’s Guide
Installation requirements for Windows systems
Table 2-2describes the requirements to prepare your Windows systems for NetBackup installation. Use this table as a checklist to address each item.
Table 2-2 NetBackup installation requirements for Windows
Requirements Check
Operating system:
■ For a complete list of compatible Windows operating systems, refer to the
NetBackup 7.x Operating System Compatbility List at the following website:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/overview.jsp?pid=15143
In the section Common Topics, under Compatibility List, click NetBackup 7.x Operating System.
Memory:
■ Master servers in a production environment should have a minimum of 8 GB of memory each.
■ Media servers in a production environment should have a minimum of 4 GB of memory each.
For additional information about memory requirements, refer to the NetBackup
Backup Planning and Performance Tuning Guide.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5332
Table 2-2 NetBackup installation requirements for Windows (continued)
Requirements Check
Disk space:
■ The exact amount of space that is required to accommodate the server software and the NetBackup catalogs depends on the hardware platform. More information about this topic is available.
SeeTable 2-3on page 35.
■ NetBackup catalogs contain information about your backups that become larger as you use the product. The disk space that the catalogs require depends primarily on the following aspects of your backup configuration:
■ The number of files that are backed up.
■ The frequency of your backups.
■ The amount of time that you set to retain your backup data.
■ Symantec recommends that you have a minimum available disk space of 5% in any Disk Storage Unit volume or file system.
Note:The value for disk space is for initial installation only. The NetBackup catalog requires considerably more space once the master server is placed in a production environment. For additional information on sizing requirements for the NetBackup catalog, refer to the NetBackup Backup Planning and
Performance Tuning Guide.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5332
Clustered systems:
■ All nodes in the cluster must run the same operating system version, service pack level, and NetBackup version. You cannot mix versions of server operating systems.
■ The installation account must have administrator privileges on all remote systems or on all nodes in the cluster.
More information about cluster requirements is available.
Symantec NetBackup Clustered Master Server Administrator’s Guide
http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5332
The services and port numbers:
■ NetBackup services and port numbers must be the same across the network.
■ Symantec suggests that you use the default port settings for NetBackup services and Internet service ports. If you modify the port numbers, they must be the same for all master servers, media servers, and clients. The port entries are in the following file:
Table 2-2 NetBackup installation requirements for Windows (continued)
Requirements Check
Remote Administration Console host names:
■ You must provide the names of the Remote Administration Console hosts during master server installation.
NetBackup 7.6 binary sizes
The information in this section helps you determine if you have allocated the proper amount of disk space to your servers to safely and efficiently back up and restore all of the data in your NetBackup environment.
For the current information on operating system version support, consult the SORT
Installation and Upgrade Checklist or the NetBackup Enterprise Server and Server 7.x OS Software Compatibility List.
https://sort.symantec.com/netbackup.
NetBackup Enterprise Server and Server 7.x OS Software Compatibility List
■ http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76648
Table 2-3shows the approximate binary size of the NetBackup master and media server software, and the NetBackup client software requirements for each operating system that is compatible with NetBackup.
Table 2-3 NetBackup binary sizes for compatible platforms
Notes 64-bit server 32-bit server 64-bit client 32-bit client CPU Architecture OS/Version 6880MB 2430MB POWER AIX 6.1, 7.1 6350MB 1580MB x86-64 Asianux 3 1580MB x86-64 Canonical Ubuntu 9.04, 9.10, 10.04, 11.10, 12.04
Media server or client compatibility only. 6350MB
1580MB x86-64
CentOS 5
Table 2-3 NetBackup binary sizes for compatible platforms (continued) Notes 64-bit server 32-bit server 64-bit client 32-bit client CPU Architecture OS/Version 290MB x86-64 FreeBSD 6.3, 7.x, 8.x, 9.x
Media server or client compatibility only. 2395MB 955MB PA-RISC HP-UX 11.11, 11.23, 11.31 6910MB 2460MB IA-64 HP-UX 11.31 272MB x86-32 Mac OS X 10.6 272MB x86-64 Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 6352MB 1576MB x86-64 Novell Open Enterprise
Server 2
6352MB 1576MB
x86-64 Novell Open Enterprise
Server 11
The listed sizes are for the NetBackup 7.5 binaries. No NetBackup 7.6 binaries for OpenVMS are provided. 128MB
HP VAX OpenVMS 5.5, 6.2, 7.3
The listed sizes are for the NetBackup 7.5 binaries. No NetBackup 7.6 binaries for OpenVMS are provided. 128MB
HP Alpha OpenVMS 6.1, 6.2, 7.3, 8.2,
8.3, 8.4
The listed sizes are for the NetBackup 7.5 binaries. No NetBackup 7.6 binaries for OpenVMS are provided. 128MB HP IA64 OpenVMS 8.2, 8.3, 8.3-1H1, 8.4 6350MB 1580MB x86-64 Oracle Linux 5 6350MB 1580MB x86-64 Oracle Linux 6 6350MB 1580MB x86-64 Red Flag Linux 5
6350MB 1580MB
x86-64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
6350MB 1580MB
x86-64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
1580MB x86-64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5
466MB POWER
Table 2-3 NetBackup binary sizes for compatible platforms (continued) Notes 64-bit server 32-bit server 64-bit client 32-bit client CPU Architecture OS/Version 466MB POWER
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Media server or client compatibility only. 4920MB
1070MB z/Architecture
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Media server or client compatibility only. 4920MB
1070MB z/Architecture
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
4623MB 1552MB SPARC Solaris 10 4623MB 1552MB SPARC Solaris 11 4510MB 1250MB x86-64 Solaris 10 4510MB 1250MB x86-64 Solaris 11 6352MB 1576MB x86-64 SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 10 (SP2)
6352MB 1576MB
x86-64 SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 11
Compatible with client only. 473MB
POWER SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 9
Compatible with client only. 473MB
POWER SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 10 (SP2)
Media server or client compatibility only. 4911MB
1050MB z/Architecture
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SP2)
Media server or client compatibility only. 4911MB
1050MB z/Architecture
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
Covers all compatible Windows x86 platforms 750MB
x86-32 Windows
Covers all compatible Windows x64 platforms 2375MB
975MB x86-64
Note:Unless stated otherwise in the table above, NetBackup is supported on all editions (Advanced, Base, DC, etc.) and on all vendor GA updates (n.1, n.2, etc.) or service packs (SP1, SP2, etc.) for the following Linux platforms: Asianux, CentOS, Debian GNU/Linux, Novell Open Enterprise Server, Oracle Linux, Red Flag Linux, Red Hat, and SUSE.
Table 2-4shows the approximate binary size and the OpsCenter Agent, Server, and ViewBuilder software requirements for each operating system that is compatible with OpsCenter.
Table 2-4 OpsCenter binary sizes for compatible platforms
ViewBuilder Server Agent CPU Architecture OS/Version 855MB x86-64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 (Kernel 2.6.18+)
855MB x86-64
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SP2) (Kernel 2.6.16+) 959MB 451MB SPARC Solaris 10 985MB x86-64 Solaris 10 172MB 777MB 268MB x86-64 Windows Server 2008 R2 172MB 777MB 268MB x86-64 Windows Server 2012
Table 2-5shows the approximate binary size and the NetBackup vCenter Plugin client software requirements for each operating system that is compatible with the NetBackup vCenter Plugin.
Table 2-5 NetBackup vCenter Plugin binary sizes for compatible platforms
About server and client platform compatibility
You can find the NetBackup platform compatibility information and other various compatibility lists on the Symantec Support website. These compatibility lists offer a variety of up-to-date information about the operating systems that are compatible with NetBackup and NetBackup features.
See“About NetBackup compatibility lists”on page 43. This section also contains the following types of information:
■ Operating system compatibility information
■ NetBackup feature compatibility
■ Descriptions of the dedicated compatibility lists and instructions on how to locate them on the Symantec Support website
Note:This section describes the platform and operating system support changes at the time of release. For the most up-to-date information about software and hardware compatibility, see the NetBackup Master Compatibility List on the Symantec Support website.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH59978- NetBackup Master Compatibility List
New and discontinued server and client operating system support
for NetBackup 7.6
This release of NetBackup contains many changes and enhancements in the support of compatible platforms and operating systems. These lists include some of the platform support changes that were made since the last single-dot release of NetBackup.
New operating system support
NetBackup 7.6 now supports the following operating systems on the defined CPU architecture:
■ Windows Server 2012 x64
■ Windows 8 x64 (client) ■ Mac OS X 10.8 (client)
■ FreeBSD 8.2, 8.3, and 9.0 (client)
■ Solaris 11 SPARC and x64 (master)
■ Canonical Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, and 13.04 (client)
■ Oracle Linux 6 (master) ■ AIX 7.1 (SAN Client)
Discontinued operating system support
NetBackup 7.6 does not support the following operating systems on the defined CPU architecture:
■ Windows x86 (master and media).
Note:Windows x86 is still fully supported as a client.
■ Solaris 11 Express
■ AIX 5.3 64-bit POWER
■ Solaris 9 SPARC
■ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server IA64
■ Red Hat Enterprise Linux IA64
Note:No new packages are provided for these platforms in this release. However these platforms are still supported using the packages that are provided for NetBackup 7.0, 7.1, and 7.5. These platforms will not be supported after the 7.x EOSL date.
All UNIX 32-bit system support has been discontinued, with the exception of FreeBSD and Mac OS X.
■ To upgrade these unsupported systems to NetBackup 7.6, you must first migrate
your current NetBackup 6.x catalogs and databases to a system with a compatible platform. Another option is to use 32-bit NetBackup 6.x media servers and clients with a 64-bit NetBackup 7.6 master server.
See the NetBackup installation guides for more information about migrating NetBackup master servers from 32-bit to 64-bit.
Any 32-bit media servers and clients that use NetBackup 6.x are compatible with the 64-bit master servers that use NetBackup 7.x.
Note:For an up-to-date listing of the operating systems that NetBackup 7.6 no longer supports, see the 'Operating systems no longer supported by NetBackup' section in the Symantec NetBackup Enterprise Server and Server 7.x OS Software
Compatibility List. This list can be found on the Symantec Support website. http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76648
For information about the operating systems that are not be compatible with the next major release of NetBackup, refer to the End-of-life notifications chapter of this document.
See“End-of-life notifications”on page 150.
File system support
The following list includes some of the file system support changes in NetBackup 7.6:
■ Storage Foundation 6 is now supported for NetBackup clients.
■ The ReFS file system is supported, but installing the NetBackup package on an
ReFS volume is not supported.
■ Global File System 2 (GFS2) file system support on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5
Other operating system support notes
The following list includes miscellaneous support information for specific operating systems:
■ NetBackup Java-applications are no longer available on HP PA-RISC operating
systems for servers and clients.
■ NetBackup 7.6 contains the 7.5 version of the OpenVMS client package. If you already have the OpenVMS 7.5 client package installed, you do not have to reinstall this package.
Database agent compatibility in NetBackup 7.6
This release of NetBackup contains many changes and enhancements in the support of compatible platforms and operating systems. This section describes the changes in support that were made in this release.
New database support
NetBackup 7.6 offers the following database and application support:
■ Exchange 2013 support. Please note, Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)
■ Exchange 2010 SP3 support on Windows 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012.
■ SharePoint 2013 support (database only). Please note, Granular Recovery
Technology (GRT) backups are not supported with this release.
■ Claims-based authentication (CBA) is now supported for Web application in SharePoint 2010 and later. The following providers are supported:
■ Windows Authentication (LDAP) ■ Facebook
■ Live Id
■ Forms-based authentication (FBA) using SQL Server
■ Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0
■ DB2 support for zLinux
Discontinued database support
NetBackup 7.6 discontinues the following database and application support:
■ NetBackup 7.6 for SQL Server no longer supports backups of SQL Server 2000. Restores and recoveries from existing backup images are still supported, but will be retired in the next major release of NetBackup.
■ NetBackup 7.6 for Exchange Server no longer supports backups of Exchange
Server 2003. Restores and recoveries from existing backup images are still supported, but will be retired in the next major release of NetBackup.
Platform compatibility for NetBackup Cloud
The NetBackup Cloud feature is supported on a select group of NetBackup media server platforms. Supported platforms include:
■ AIX
■ HP-UX IA64
■ Red Hat Enterprise Linux x64
■ Solaris SPARC
■ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server x64 ■ Windows 2008R2 (64 bit)
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76648- NetBackup Enterprise Server and
Server 7.x OS Software Compatibility List
Platform compatibility with the NetBackup Administration Consoles
for UNIX
The NetBackup Administration Console provides a graphical user interface through which the administrator can manage NetBackup. The interface can run on any NetBackup Java-capable system. For information on how to install the consoles, see the NetBackup Installation Guide. For information on how to use the NetBackup Administration Console, see the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume 1. To see a list of platforms that are compatible with the NetBackup-Java Administration Console, the Backup, Archive, and Restore user interface, and the NetBackup Remote Administration Console (MFC), see the NetBackup Enterprise Server and
Server 7.x OS Software Compatibility List on the Symantec Support website: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH59978- NetBackup Enterprise Server and
Server 7.x OS Software Compatibility List
Note:A NetBackup-Java Administration Console can be supported on all Windows platforms to connect to remote servers.
Note:Beginning with NetBackup 7.6, all Windows client selections are referred to as Windows, instead of as their release versions, such as Windows
2003/2008/2012.
About NetBackup compatibility lists
The most up-to-date compatibility information on platforms, peripherals, drives, and libraries is located in various compatibility lists on the Symantec Support website. You can use the following methods to locate these lists and information:
■ Symantec recommends that you use Symantec Operations Readiness Tools (SORT) to help you locate the latest platforms, peripherals, drives, and libraries. To access SORT, go to the following Web page:
https://sort.symantec.com/netbackup